Three dimensional optical imaging systems are capable of providing distance measurements and a depth image of objects within a capture area. Such systems are currently used for example in gaming and multimedia applications to provide human identification and gesture recognition, as well as a wide variety of other applications, such as inspection of semiconductors and other goods, CAD verification, robot vision and geographic surveying. Generally, three dimensional (3-D) imaging systems are comprised of a projector having a light source for illuminating a scene (target). The 3-D imaging system further includes a receptor such as a 3-D camera for receiving light reflected from the target and forming a 3-D image of the target from the reflected light.
A current method of implementing a depth projector utilizes a laser diode assembled as a transistor-outline package (TO-Can) with collimating optics and diffractive optical elements (DOE) to encode the light into a pattern so that it can be read by the receptor system. Assembling these components together is time consuming and costly, and the assembled projector is also susceptible to damage and failure.